Fiji Had a "Gale"
p. 24 · Read in the full issue
Met. Men
Say That
ALTHOUGH described by the Meteorological Office as a “gale”, the roaring gusts that struck Lautoka and other parts of the Northern districts of Fiji at 8 p.m., January 30, were sufficiently strong to cause serious damage.
Road and telephone communica tion between Suva and Lautoka was cut off and all civil operations at Nadi Airport were suspended.
Planes from Sydney and Auckland were delayed at their home bases until the storm abated.
Remembering the belated notice given of the T ast hurricane, residents for the greater part took no risks and battened up their houses and shops.
Their fears seems to be justified when at 8.30 p.m. the wind and rain had increased to such an ex tent that walking in the streets be came difficult.
Ba suffered badly from flooding, the waters in the Ba River being within two feet of the record flood level of 1931. Shops were flooded and had to be evacuated, and on Feb. 2 the Ba Post Office was still surrounded by water and out of operation.
Suva did not suffer so badly as the Northern districts of Viti Levu.
Principal damage in the Southern districts and up the Wainibuka river area will be to banana plantations.
Part of Nausori township was flooded to a depth of three feet in places, and patients at the Waini buka Hospital had to be evacuated by boats to ambulances when the water reached floor level.
A four-year-old Indian boy, and a 12-year-old Indian boy, were drowned at Rewa in flood waters.
50 Inches Of Rain In Three
Days
At Nadarivatu, in the hinterland of Viti Levu, at an altitude of 2,700 feet, where there is always an abundant rainfall, 50 inches of rain fell within three days. At Koro-Or, three miles above the timber mill, 34 inches fell on January 30 and 31.
It was the heavy rainfall at Nadarivatu which caused heavy flooding in the Ba and Waindina Rivers with the consequent destruc tion of many banana plantations.
The storm had formed east of the New Hebrides and was the first tropical cyclone of the present season to affect the islands area, though all through January a series of storm centres had been lingering in the Coral Sea area and had brought rain and gales to P-NG, and given ship and plane passengers some rough trips.